"Imperfect Speech"

(Image source: http://i.ytimg.com/vi/oVC0kYy1w7Y/0.jpg)

September 16, 2012

New Testament Reading: James 3:1-12

¹Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. ²For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle. ³If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies. ⁴Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. ⁵So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits.

How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! ⁶And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell. ⁷For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, ⁸but no one can tame the tongue-a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

⁹With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. ¹⁰From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so. ¹¹Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water? ¹²Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.

Sermon: “Imperfect Speech”

Two pastors were once meeting for coffee.  One was complaining to the other, “I just don’t know what to do with my congregation,” she said.  “They gossip all the time: prayer request time turns into a public shaming of people who are struggling, everyone knows what everyone else is doing and I’ll not even mention the rumor mill that is the church parking lot!”

The other pastor silently listened and, after a long pause finally responded:

“I am so jealous.  My church members don’t even care enough about each other to gossip!”

Oscar Wilde said it best:

“"If you can't say something good about someone, come over here and sit next to me."

James speaks of the damage we can do with our tongues, saying “From the same mouth come blessing and cursing.”  We in the South must be overachievers, because we manage to bless and curse in the same sentence.

We’ve all done it.  It goes like this: “Poor Jenny, her husband ran off with that 25-year-old he met on the internet, bless her heart.  Poor John, he was caught drunk and wandering through the grocery store again…bless his heart. 

James says that we should not be capable of blessing and cursing with our one tongue, and then goes on a metaphor binge.  Does a spring pour forth both fresh and salt water?  Can a fig tree yield olives?  Can a grapevine yield figs?  Can sweet and unsweet tea be poured from the same pitcher?  Can Krispy Kreme be served at snack time in a Weight Watchers meeting?  Can a Carolina and Duke fan both be happy on game day? 

But we are a people of contradiction.  Our mouths can bring the most beautiful songs, prayers and words of encouragement.  And they can bring words that do irreparable damage and dehumanize others.  You better believe we can bless and curse all in the same breath, but just because we can does not mean we should. 

James calls us to tame our tongues, which he nicknames “a restless evil, full of deadly poison.”  Catchy!  He reminds us that our tongues guide our whole bodies and that, if the tongue is bridled, so is the body.  We see this to be true in a negative way in our history: when wanting to control a people, taking away their language does the job.  This is why slaves were often not allowed to speak in their native tongues in front of their owners, nor were they allowed to learn to read and write in English.  Control the tongue, control the people.  Speech is power, and like any power it can be used for good or evil. 

Gossip was for James an abuse of the power of speech, and had no place in the church.  He has a good point, but I think he might have a different take on gossip than some of us do.  You see, James was a city boy, y’all.  He lived in Jerusalem, with at least 80,000 other people.  Every now and then you hear people from big cities talk about little towns like ours by saying, “Oh I’d love living in a small town, but they’re just so gossipy.”

People from small towns don’t say this as often.  What I’ve heard some of y’all tell me (and what I’ve already experienced in my short time here) is that the gift of a small town is just that kind of intimacy: that you actually know your neighbors, and if there is talk about someone, it’s generally to take care of them and be sure they’re okay.  Of course, there are exceptions, “all of us make mistakes,” as James reminds us.

But I wonder if James’ message would be a bit different if he was from a small town.  If he understood the value of knowing what’s going on in others’ lives, not to use it against them, but to really care for them in good times and bad.  I also wonder if he wrote this sermon after someone said something gossipy about him that really angered him.  It kind of sounds like it!  He seems pretty fired up.

Whatever his motives, James raises important questions about gossip.  I was curious about the origin of this word, and discovered that “gossip” was originally closer to our small-town understanding: it comes from an Old English contraction of two words: God and sibb.  God and sibling. 

However distorted or destructive gossip has become, it began as a concerned conversation in a family about someone who was absent.  Gossip was meant to be a blessing, a way to meet each others’ needs by actually knowing what each other need.

I believe that towns like Cameron and churches like ours uphold this idea of gossip.  Of course, we have the other kind, too: the (gravel) parking lot conversations, the words intent on tearing down and not building up.  But most of the time, I think we get it.  We know that, by God’s grace, we are a big family who want each other to know health and happiness and peace.   We know that even the smallest word of “I love you” and “you’re not alone” can bring immense blessing.  We know that these words are not meant just for us, but are meant to be extended to those beyond these walls.

Let’s continue that sort of gossip, where we celebrate being siblings in God.  Where we bless not only the God who made us, but also all of those who are made in God’s image.  Where we speak up on behalf of those who need help but don’t know how to ask for it, and where we sit in silence patiently listening to those who finally have the courage to name their fears and struggles. 

You probably never expected to hear “Let’s gossip more, y’all!” from this pulpit, but there you have it.  God calls us to gossip in the original intent of the word: to build one another up with imperfect but loving speech.  To know each other much more deeply than a simple Sunday morning greeting allows.  To choose our words with wisdom and integrity, knowing that words shape reality.  And to even, on our most faithful days, mean “bless your heart” when we say it.  Amen.